Bill Littlefield, Host
Bill wrote his first commentary for WBUR in 1984, and shortly thereafter his work began airing on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” where, for a few years, he hit second in a line-up that included Red Barber and Frank Deford.

A graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Bill continues to teach one course each semester at Curry College, where he also serves as writer-in-residence.

Bill’s most recent book is “Only A Game.” He refuses to say where he got the title. Anyway, it’s a collection of radio commentaries and magazine articles published by University of Nebraska Press in 2007. His other books include Fall Classics (Crown Press, 2003), a collection of the best writing about the World Series which he edited with Richard Johnson; The Circus in the Woods (Houghton Mifflin, 2002); Prospect (Houghton Mifflin, 1989; paperback, 2000); Baseball Days (Houghton Mifflin, 1993; paperback Pond Press, 2000); Champions: The Stories of Ten Remarkable Athletes (Little, Brown, 1993; paperback, 1999), and Keepers: Radio Stories from “Only A Game” and Elsewhere, (Peninsula Press, 1999). He was the guest editor for Houghton Mifflin’s Best American Sports Writing in 1998.

Though his daughters have grown too old for Bill to coach them, he still has nightmares about youth league basketball games in which he was allegedly an official.

Charlie Pierce, Analyst
Charles P. Pierce was born December 28, 1953 in Worcester, MA. Six months earlier, his mother hid in the basement as a massive tornado leveled his future hometown of Shrewsbury, MA. The effect of prenatal imprinting is still being debated in medical circles, but a connection does not seem implausible.

He is a 1975 graduate of Marquette University, where he majored in journalism and brewery tours. He was delighted to combine his vocation and his avocation once again when he returned to Milwaukee to cover the trial of Jeffrey Dahmer.

He attended graduate school at Boston College for two days. He is a former forest ranger for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and still ponders the question of what possesses people to go into the woods and throw disposable diapers up into trees.

He began his journalism career writing bowling agate for the Milwaukee papers, and remains justly proud of his ability to spell multi-syllabic, vowel-free Eastern European names. He has written for the alternative press, including Worcester Magazine and the Boston Phoenix, and was a sports columnist for the Boston Herald. He was a feature writer and columnist for the late, lamented sports daily, The National. He has been a writer-at-large for a men’s fashion magazine, and his work has appeared in the Boston Globe, the New York Times Magazine, the LA Times Magazine and the Chicago Tribune, among others. He appears weekly on National Public Radio’s sports program Only A Game is a regular panelist on NPR’s game show, Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me and is a frequent host on ESPN radio. Since July, 1997 he has been a writer at large at Esquire, covering everything from John McCain to the Hubble telescope, with more than a few shooting stars thrown in between. In April, 2002, he joined the staff of the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine.

Charles Pierce is the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors. On several occasions, he was named a finalist for the Associated Press Sports Editor’s award for best column writing, and it has been suggested that if only he would wear a tie, they might have let him win. He was a 1996 National Magazine Award finalist for his piece on Alzheimer’s disease "In the Country of My Disease," and has expanded the piece into a book Hard to Forget: An Alzheimer’s Story for Random House. Charlie Pierce has appeared in Best American Sportswriting more times than any other writer, and his work has been anthologized in Sports Guy: In Search of Corkball, Warroad Hockey, Hooters Golf, Tiger Woods, and the Big, Big Game. He was awarded third place in the PBWAA Dan S. Blumenthal Memorial Writing Contest. When he won Phone Jeopardy, Alex Trebek sent him a plaque.

Charles Pierce lives in metro Boston with his three children, a malfunctioning Toro lawnmower and his extremely long-suffering wife.

Gary Waleik, Executive Producer
At the age of 6, while watching Bill Russell win his 11th NBA championship with the Boston Celtics, Gary Waleik developed the belief that he’d not only produce a sports show for National Public Radio someday, but that he’d do it for decades. What else could provide such a dazzling weekly display of soul-satisfying absurdity, intrigue and humor? While not working on the program, Gary likes to discuss music, fly fishing and how absurd it is that John Perotti thinks the Cincinnati Bengals will ever amount to a hill of beans.. 

Karen Given, Producer
When she got her first job in radio at the age of 16, Karen Given didn’t expect to end up at an NPR sports program.  She felt she had taken the first step in her quest to replace Tom Brokaw.  But, by the time Tom retired, Karen had been captivated by the allure of creative alliteration, watching televised sports at work, and the occasional interview with a hunky tennis player.  She could care less about the Cincinnati Bengals as a football team, but happens to think their uniforms are somewhat hideous. 

Gabe O’Connor, Associate Producer
Gabe has been with the OAG staff in some capacity since 1999. During that time, and in addition to a dazzling array of radio skills, he has developed an old man voice that sounds like a cross between Katherine Hepburn, Led Zeppelin III, and a warm, flat bottle of Iron City Beer.

He now can not only find ample reasons to root for the Golden State Warriors, he considers Don Nelson to be a personal hero. He can still name the Super Bowl teams and MVPs in order. His wife has officially given up. Some of his happiest sports memories include two San Francisco 49er Super Bowl victories over the Cincinnati Bengals. In fact, he thinks the Cincinnati style combination of chili served on top of pasta is just stupid.
 

John Perrotti,  Technical Director
Since birth, John has dreamed of a career as a Public Radio Technical Director.  Now, he is living that dream. When not pushing highly-specialized buttons in ways no mortal could understand, he enjoys discussing the finer points of experimental music, circuit-bending, and minivan ownership over a cup of peppermint tea. He knows the Cincinnati Bengals will one day rise again.